


Seeing Green (Or Kind of a Turquoise Teal)

by loquaciouslass



Series: Jasper and Lapis Explore This Human Concept Called 'Coping' [2]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Humor, I mean i guess you can take it as romantic if you want, Jasper and Lapis still refuse to talk about their feelings, More platonic fic, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-02
Updated: 2017-02-02
Packaged: 2018-09-21 11:28:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9547193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loquaciouslass/pseuds/loquaciouslass
Summary: Lapis can be upset by a lot of things to the point of disassociating. Lapis can also be upset to the point of punching by a certain smug gem.Also Jasper is there and involved in the punching.





	

There were a lot of things that could upset Lapis Lazuli. There were the obvious things, like being held captive, being reminded about being held captive, the time she held someone captive (which she was _not_ going to talk about _thank you_ , Steven) and certain people’s insistence on _compromising_. All of which were allegedly something that she _had to talk about eventually_ and _Lapis you can’t run away from your problems forever!_ Because it was something or other to do with intense long-term trauma, that Steven _obviously_ thought could be solved with talking and singing. Ridiculous. As though flying away from the current representation of the trauma wasn’t a good enough coping mechanism.

So yes, there were a lot of things that could upset Lapis. Most coming from the past, a few coming from the well-intended but ultimately pushy comments, and a few that just happened because life liked to punch her in the back, really hard, with her big breaking point fists.

But that was fine, because most of those things (or the things that reminded her of them) couldn’t catch up with her. A few of those things just needed the opening of Camp Pining Hearts to ward them away, like garlic to a vampire.

But there were some things.

Just. Some things.

That would not stay away.

So today, Lapis Lazuli, former terraformer and current terra-resident, was running. The ceilings in town hall were too low to fly through, and _damned_ if she was going to listen to another lecture about property damage as the politician sweated at her. Though, if she were being honest, that was probably better than the thump-thump-thump drawing closer, a warning bell for all to hear. The water would just smack against the walls, and that would alert the _current_ problem to her position.

Lapis darted round a corner and fell smack bang into a big hunk of rock. A big orange hunk of rock.

“Jasper!” She hissed, forcing her voice lower. Jasper snapped her head around and backed off immediately, hands held in front of her, ready to fight.

“What? What do you want?!”

“N-nothing! I’m just _running_ from-“

“ _Oooh Lapis? Laaaapis!”_

Lapis swore under her breath and pressed herself up against the wall, eyes flicking to the voice. Jasper peered around the corner.

Jasper flung herself against the wall, next to Lapis, with her jaw wound up tight. She whispered out, “ _why is she here?!”_

“I don’t _know!”_ Lapis said back, daring to sneak a peek at the gem striding down the hall, “I thought she was busy finding Blue Diamond lodgings!”

“Where on this miserable planet would they fit a Diamond?”

“ _Exactly!”_ Lapis grimaced as Holly Blue Agate, still calling for Lapis, became clearer. She was standing tall and proud as ever, nose turned up in the air. Lapis felt a faint pang of sympathy for the sweaty human, considering Agate had come from his office. She’d probably left him with some sort of crippling anxiety.

But there was time to picture that later, if she remembered. Because at the moment, Holly Blue was coming closer and closer, like a swarm of locusts ready to strip the land of its crops. And the only other gem around was _Jasper_ , whose fists were clenched and pupils blown wide, the prefect picture of a cat that was considering jumping at all those locusts but knew somewhere in the back of its mind it would be overwhelmed and eaten.

Nowhere to run. Somewhere to hide, sure, but an unpleasant conversation with Holly Blue Agate about how _poorly_ those earth kindergartens turned out and how Lapis couldn’t help it, obviously, and how perhaps Holly Blue would be willing to take her in for a few favours…

Well okay, maybe hiding in Malachite would be worth flicking her into the ocean.

But somehow she thought Jasper wouldn’t be too happy with that.

Or maybe she’d be _too_ happy with that, because punching Holly Blue was feeling more and more like a duty than a simple want.

“ _There_ you are, Lapis Lazuli! Oh goodness, I was _certain_ I’d seen you running around this little hovel- oh, that’s the… _earth_ Jasper, isn’t it?”

Lapis and Jasper froze as Holly Blue Agate stood before them, shorter than Jasper and less important than Lapis, but somehow filling the air with her presence. She had one eyebrow raised scanning Jasper up and down. “This is yours, Lapis? I would have thought you’d be given a Pearl, maybe, rather than…this.” She shook her head with a sigh. “Honestly, I don’t know _what_ Yellow Diamond was thinking taking an Earth quartz into her army, they’re so unruly…”

Holly Blue went on, criticising everything from the angle of the Beta Kindergarten to the shouty Primes, to Jasper’s hair and Lapis’ eyebags. It was a torrent. It felt like all the pressure of the ocean was pressing down on her back.

Lapis looked at Jasper, who seemed to have stuck her face into the sort of smile one only had if they were so consumed by emotion that the brain stopped working for a moment. She supposed Jasper was just catching up, running through a list of feelings in her gem until the most appropriate culprit rose to the surface and headbutted Holly Blue.

Lapis took a deep breath and squeezed Jasper’s hand. It broke the reverie. She snapped her head to look at Lapis.

“ _And_ she doesn’t pay attention to perfectly good criticism! These quartzes are just-“

“Yes, _thank you_ , Holly Blue.” Lapis said, gritting her teeth. “Shouldn’t you be getting back to Blue Diamond? Now? Before the tide comes in?”

“Oh! Yes, of course, why don’t you come along? I’m sure Blue Diamond would be _more_ than willing to take you into her lodgings after all the trouble, I can’t imagine how you live in that shack with an Era-2 Peridot of all things!” Lapis felt her face go hot. She tightened her grip on Jasper’s hand. “And that runt of an Amethyst that’s always running around-“

Something very odd happened then. Lapis had been gripping tight, true, and then Jasper’s grip had grown tight enough to deleted her physical form, and _then_ they’d both started saying something better left unheard by polite company and _then_ -

 _Then_ ­-

Holly Blue Agate was a speck on the horizon, followed by four eyes blinking through the afternoon sun. A tiny, sweaty man was crying in his office.

Malachite stared at her arms, examining for any new patterns or injury, before splitting apart again.

Lapis heaved, air pushing into her lungs hard. Jasper was staring at the sky, looking dazed.

The air became heavy. Lapis swallowed. She stood up and offered a hand to Jasper.

“Let’s uh. Let’s not talk about that.”

Jasper nodded. “Uh. Yeah. Right. I wasn’t expecting…her.”

“No, I just wanted to…yell,”

“Or smash,”

“Or punch her through a wall,”

“Or send her flying into the ocean?”

“…Or send her flying into the ocean.”

The beachfront was quiet, outside of the soft sobs from the ruins of town hall. There were flecks of debris everywhere.

“Do you think she’ll come back?”

“Ugh, I hope not. I don’t wanna talk about _her_ with _you_ , let alone listen to a Holly Blue lecture. Especially if Steven finds out what we just did.”

“Heh. He’d ignore the fact that we’re talking to tell us about _kindness_ and _singing_.”

“He’s not still trying to make you sing?”

“I keep going to the rocks and singing at night and stopping whenever he comes to see me. He pulls the greatest face. It’s hilarious.”

“You’re mean.”

“Hey, I was only one half of the Agate punching team. I’m teaching the little brat about stealth.”

“You wouldn’t know stealth if it bit you in the ass.”

“I think that’s kind of the point.” Jasper stood up and stretched. “Anyway, I only came to see about making some doorways bigger. Apparently it’s a _crime_ to keep walking _through_ the doors, rather than working my way around them like some kind of pearl.”

Lapis snorted. “I don’t think you’re getting that done today. I’m going back to the barn. Peridot’s with Amethyst and I think they want to know if I found any bad space movies.”

“Well, good luck with that. Have a nice day, or whatever.” Jasper started to set off away from Lapis, pausing for a moment as the ocean lapped at her feet. “…And I know we don’t want to talk about it but…Malachite felt better than last time. At least for me.”

“…Yeah, Malachite felt better.”

And their shadows parted until another day.  

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Me, observing the discourse that continues to erupt forever and ever: Hahaha nope 
> 
> Im staying in my corner of bad relationships that people can heal and move on from and very tentative friendships mostly built around punching people


End file.
